Hiya Pagan,
Yep, I agree 100%. I don't feel bitter at all about the fact that they get digital rights. I think even though Golden's a good seller, with such incredible production quality for such a low price I'm sure even as a sales-winner it's not a profit-maker for them. I'm forever grateful that they went to so much effort to produce the deck the way they did, and hopefully it's continued popularity makes them know it was worth the effort and expense.
Before I even signed with USGS, some of their other top creators had warned me that they will never budge on the copyright thing, so I think it's probably less awkward for both me and them if I don't even ask them
I spoke to a printer friend who told me that a small run is possible. Of course it won't have fancy gold edges and stuff, but it will at least be something 'real' in addition to the digital version.
There's a wonderful book The Long Tail by Chris Anderson that I read about 2 yrs ago,
http://www.thelongtail.com/ that made me more determined to think laterally about how artists can support themselves in the new economy. eg self-publishing a book on
http://lulu.com may make the author more income than getting a deal with a major publisher.
Llewellyn have changed to respond to the new 'Long Tail' - eg they cultivate author fan-clubs on their site, have a program of regular guest appearances throughout the US, encourage their authors to do podcasts, and all those other new audience/author relationship possibilities that the web's given us. USGS are a more traditional publisher, but then they work very hard at their established ways of distribution - and there are always going to be people who walk into a bookstore, see a deck and buy it. Not everyone uses Amazon, Tarot Garden, Alida etc. I've heard there are even people who don't use the web, although I'm a bit skeptical that they exist
I think what Stuart Kaplan's done for modern tarot is amazing. I wonder if any of this... the whole tarot community... would be what it is today if he hadn't taken a fancy to a copy of the RWS deck he picked up in Europe back in the 70's. If he wasn't such a forceful personality, he could never have made USGS what it is.
So, in his honour, here's Kaplans oft-quoted favourite card (the Fool) from Cielo (still in progress...):